In recent years, a phenomenon in which a pattern is collapsed during development carried out after exposure of a resist in a lithography process and a process of rinsing a development liquid due to formation of finer patterns has caused a problem.
This pattern collapse is considered to be caused by the surface tension when the development liquid or a rinsing liquid is dried and force acting between the patterns due to a force accompanied by the flow of the liquids, that is, Laplace force. The pattern collapse is also considered to be caused by Laplace force generated when the development liquid and the rinsing liquid are flown out to the outside by using a centrifugal force.
In order to solve such problems, a method for forming a pattern including steps of forming a resist film on a substrate; selectively irradiating the resist film with energy rays in order to form a latent image in the resist film; supplying a development liquid (an alkaline development liquid) onto the resist film in order to form a resist pattern from the resist film in which the latent image is formed; supplying a rinsing liquid on the substrate in order to replace the development liquid with the rinsing liquid onto the substrate; supplying a material for a coating film on the substrate in order to replace the rinsing liquid with the material for a coating film containing at least a part of the solvent in the rinsing liquid and a solute different from the resist film; volatilizing the solvent in the material for a coating film in order to form a coating film covering the resist film on the substrate; setting back at least a part of the surface of the coating film in order to expose at least a part of the upper surface of the resist pattern and to form a mask pattern configured by the coating film; and processing the substrate using the mask pattern has been disclosed (refer to Patent Document 1).
A method for producing a resist structure including treating an exposed photoresist layer with an aqueous solution or a hydroalcoholic solution of polyfunctional aminosiloxane or hydroxysiloxane and etching in an oxygen-containing plasma has also been disclosed (refer to Patent Document 2).
Moreover, a method for forming a pattern including forming a resist pattern by a resist material containing a base generator, coating the resist pattern with a silicon-containing substance to form a crosslinked part and an uncrosslinked part of the silicon-containing material, and removing the uncrosslinked part has been disclosed (refer to Patent Document 3). Hydroxy group-containing organic groups are included in the silicon-containing substance.
A method for forming a pattern using an organic solvent of a novolak resin or a polyalkylsiloxane as a rinsing liquid or a subsequent coating liquid to be used has also been disclosed (refer to Patent Document 4).
A method for forming a pattern using an aqueous solvent of a polyalkylsiloxane as a rinsing liquid or a subsequent coating liquid to be used has also been disclosed (refer to Patent Document 5).